Beyond Our Increasingly Technological Society, Reality Awaits: The Strokes Take A Stand Against AI, Politics and The Music Industry on Their New Record

By Kayla Harper

The Strokes latest record, Reality Awaits, landed on July 24 and is the first in six years since The New Abnormal which quickly became an essential Strokes record for many fans.

Preceded by the lead single, “Going Shopping”, as well as the promotional single, “Falling Out Of Love”, many listeners were skeptical of the new sound being introduced on Reality Awaits, myself included. However, after hearing the singles in context of the rest of the album, the new sound is fully fleshed out and not that new at all, sitting within the realm of The Strokes discography comfortably.

The title Reality Awaits makes perfect sense after hearing the nine tracks reflect on and criticize society, things such as control, greed and capitalism, our advancing technological world and increased reliance on it, “Forget the things that they did, yeah / Obey the words that they say, yeah / Get it on my desk on time, yeah / Got plans, I’m going online” (“Going to Babble On”). Outside of all of that, is reality, the real physical world that is awaiting our attention, despite slowly being forgotten and consumed by the digital one.

The overall message and concept of the album gives purpose to the extensive use of vocal effects on Julian Casablancas’ voice.  While this has been one of the most common criticisms of the record, it blends in perfectly, and speaks to the message of society’s overconsumption and increasing digitization.

The criticism being made against the vocal effects is the exact criticism of the overuse of technology being talked about in the lyrics. People generally dislike it because it sounds robotic and not human enough, yet the same people turn their head to the infiltration of AI in the music industry, “We can have all the things you want, okay / Listen to the AI tell you what to do today, oh” (“Liar’s Remorse”).

The frustration of people’s ignorance towards these societal problems and global issues becomes an increasing frustration on the album, “The worse reality gets, the less you wanna hear about it / Solidarity can be difficult / When you got cool stuff to lose” (“Going Shopping”).

Sonically, Reality Awaits, fits into The Strokes discography perfectly.  While they have their own sound, they have never been known to stay the same, switching it up slightly with every release, while still maintaining qualities that tie each album together. Reality Awaits is no different. Instrumentally, Reality Awaits feel reminiscent of the first three records, Is This It, Room On Fire and First Impressions Of Earth, with hints of The New Abnormal in the synth tones. Angles and Comedown Machine come through melodically. In a way, Reality Awaits, feels like pieces of everything that came before it, while sounding like something entirely refreshing and new.

On the surface, people may criticize Reality Awaits for sounding different from Strokes past releases, or for the vocal effects, not realizing that the album is calling those very things out. Reality Awaits is a genius critique of modern society, the music industry, AI and politics wrapped up in classic Strokes garage-rock style.